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$xhtml = array(
	'<{title}>' => 'The World Bank and the Integrated Storm Water Drain project in Chennai',
	'<{subtitle}>' => 'Written in <span title="Globalization">POLS 1503</span> of <a href="http://www.uopeople.edu/">University of the People</a>, finalised on 2016-09-14',
	'<{copyright year}>' => '2016',
	'takedown' => '2017-11-01',
	'<{body}>' => <<<END
<p>
	Projects funded by the World Bank don&apos;t tend to end well for those not in power in a country.
	The poorest of people are often evicted to make space for large, public projects, and given far too little in return (Chavkin, Hallman, Hudson, Schilis-Gallego, &amp; Shifflett, 2015).
	Supposedly, their policy is to try to do no harm to people or the environment, but they fail to properly review projects before approving them (Chavkin, Hallman, Hudson, Schilis-Gallego, &amp; Shifflett, 2015), then continue lending to countries that have proven themselves to be abusive to their citizens (Bovard, 1987).
	Like many other times that the World Bank has interfered, the Integrated Storm Water Drain project in Chennai, India wrecked havoc on so many people&apos;s lives.
</p>
<p>
	The residents of the J.J.
	Nagar slum in Chennai had feared eviction, and had been taking necessary precautions.
	They had been in the middle of a long-term negotiation process with the World Bank, as well as the local government.
	Although these negotiations had been going on for nearly a year and decisions made were in favor of the people of Chennai, local government officials decided to ignore what had been agreed upon and evict the citizens anyway, giving them less than even a day&apos;s notice.
	(Kumar, 2016) Though the World Bank should have stepped in to set things right, they instead sat back and allowed the local government to have their way.
</p>
<p>
	The residents of J.J.
	Nagar were promised a place to live in  Thirmazhisai.
	In Thirmazhisai, they hoped, would would be opportunities for them to regain their livelihood (Kumar, 2016).
	Additionally, their departure from the area was supposed to be delayed until the end of the school year, two months down the line.
	However, given less than a day&apos;s notice, they were instead forced to move to Perumbakkam under threats that if they didn&apos;t leave their homes by sundown, they would be giving up their only chance of alternative housing or any other kind of compensation for their losses.
	In Perumbakkam, they didn&apos;t have any opportunities waiting for them (Kumar, 2016).
	Additionally, as the school year had not ended yet, students needed to commute three hours to school and back each day for two months (Kumar, 2016), further adding to their hardship.
</p>
<p>
	The World Bank disclaims responsibility for the incident, saying that this eviction wasn&apos;t a part of the Integrated Storm Water Drain project&apos;s plan and was unrelated to the project (Kumar, 2016), but this seems highly implausible.
	From the sound of it, the World Bank is implying that these people weren&apos;t going to have to move, not that the eviction had been made too early.
	This is a backtracking over what had been discussed in negotiations earlier.
	While the World Bank probably didn&apos;t call for the early eviction, they have a track record of not penalizing governments for failing to follow agreed-upon plans and continuing to lend to countries that abuse their citizens (Chavkin, Hallman, Hudson, Schilis-Gallego, &amp; Shifflett, 2015).
	This failure on the part of the World Bank left India&apos;s government (and many other governments) with little reason to take the World Bank&apos;s decisions into account.
	This horrible outcome could easily have been avoided if the World Bank had built a reputation of of holding governments accountable for their actions instead of always letting them off the hook.
</p>
<p>
	In the past, the World Bank used to actually help the people of the world consistently.
	However, around the 1960s and 1970s, the World Bank lost sight of its goals when Robert McNamara took over as the president (Bovard, 1987).
	This new bank president decided to make the World Bank be more about lending than actually helping the world.
	The first step in fixing up the World Bank to be objective, unbiased, and responsible is to revoke the United States&apos; veto power and control of the decision of who becomes the bank president.
	The United States actually holds these unique powers over the World Bank (Bangladesh Working Group on International Financial Institutions and Trade Organisations, 2004), but is has a corrupt country, and cannot currently be trusted with this kind of power.
	Next, we need to replace the current president with one that will better represent the World Banks original goals and lead the bank (and the world) in a positive direction.
	Finally, the World Bank needs to set up rules and regulations as to how the bank is run that will guarantee that the bank remains as free of future corruption as possible.
	This may involve cutting ties with certain corrupt countries, or restructuring voting power by countries to not correspond to how much the respective countries contribute to the bank.
	As long as voting power is purchased with money, the most rich and corrupt countries are going to hold the most power over the bank and the bank will be unable to remain free of corruption itself.
	I don&apos;t know for sure if the World Bank can indeed become and remain a force for good, but it certainly cannot without, at a minimum, these major changes.
</p>
<div class="APA_references">
	<h2>References:</h2>
	<p>
		Bangladesh Working Group on International Financial Institutions and Trade Organizations. (2004, September 4). The World Bank and the Question of Immunity. Retrieved from <a href="https://unnayan.org./~unnayano/Other/IFI_Watch_Bangladesh_Vol_1%20No_1.pdf"><code>https://unnayan.org./~unnayano/Other/IFI_Watch_Bangladesh_Vol_1%20No_1.pdf</code></a>
	</p>
	<p>
		Bovard, J. (1987, September 28). The World Bank Vs. the World Poor. Retrieved from <a href="http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa092.html"><code>http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa092.html</code></a>
	</p>
	<p>
		Chavkin, S., Hallman, B., Hudson, M., Schilis-Gallego, C., &amp; Shifflett, S. (2015, April 15). How The World Bank Broke Its Promise to Protect the Poor. Retrieved from <a href="http://projects.huffingtonpost.com/worldbank-evicted-abandoned"><code>http://projects.huffingtonpost.com/worldbank-evicted-abandoned</code></a>
	</p>
	<p>
		Kumar, P. (2016, February 9). JJ Nagar slum &apos;illegally&apos; evicted. Retrieved from <a href="http://www.deccanchronicle.com./nation/current-affairs/090216/jj-nagar-slum-illegally-evicted.html"><code>http://www.deccanchronicle.com./nation/current-affairs/090216/jj-nagar-slum-illegally-evicted.html</code></a>
	</p>
	<p>
		Kumar, P. K. (2016, February 8). After Floods and False Promises, Dozens in Chennai, India Forcibly Evicted – Medium. Retrieved from <a href="https://medium.com/%40accountability/after-floods-and-false-promises-dozens-identified-by-world-bank-funded-project-in-chennai-india-f48b5c41ab56#.3ym929hh4"><code>https://medium.com/%40accountability/after-floods-and-false-promises-dozens-identified-by-world-bank-funded-project-in-chennai-india-f48b5c41ab56#.3ym929hh4</code></a>
	</p>
</div>
END
);
